


Teach Me How Love Goes

by idoltina



Category: Glee
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Children, Fatherhood, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-02
Updated: 2012-11-02
Packaged: 2017-11-21 17:05:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idoltina/pseuds/idoltina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Kurt’s ten-year high school reunion approaches, Kurt and Blaine reflect on the family they’ve created. It might involve a kangaroo. And a spatula.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teach Me How Love Goes

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings (if any):** mentions of canonical character death

“We should start packing tonight,” Blaine says.

“Later,” Kurt responds absently, focused on the pages in front of him. “I had to make sure I left everything in order at work today and I want to get some sketching in before I tackle anything else.”

“That’s why I said tonight,” Blaine says with a slight laugh. “After dinner and Eliza’s bath and we put her down for the night.” Kurt _hmms_ in response, still focused on the sketchbook on his desk. Life always seems so much more manageable after he sketches, his mind cleared and his nerves calmed. “Are you nervous?”

“About what?”

“About the reunion,” Blaine answers patiently. “Ten years is a long time, and I know we all keep up with the e-mail newsletter, but we haven’t seen a lot of these people in a long time. It’ll be their first time meeting Eliza, too.”

Kurt finally looks up from his desk, eyes falling to Eliza on the floor. She’s loading the passenger cars of her toy train with diligence and care, fingers only a little clumsy. She blinks up at Kurt for a second, eyes bright and ginger hair falling in her face a little, before she returns her attention back to her toys. She looks so _much_ like Kurt’s mother sometimes that it takes his breath away. Blaine leans forward from where he’s been sitting cross-legged on the floor near her and clips her hair back with one of her bows, his smile warm and affectionate. Kurt shakes his head and relaxes a little, propping his head up on his hand as he watches them. “Not really, no. I’m happy. That’s all that really matters going into it.”

Blaine shuffles back into a sitting position and looks over at Kurt. “Are you really?”

Kurt wrinkles his nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s just -- “ Blaine sighs and shifts a little, picking up one of Eliza’s toys and playing with it distractedly. “I don’t know. We haven’t even hit thirty yet and we’ve sort of got that whole career-marriage-baby thing down already. Does that ever bother you?”

“Does it bother _you_?” Kurt counters.

Blaine just shakes his head, fixing a break in the train track before Eliza tries to crawl and push the train along it. “No, but that’s because I’ve known this is what I wanted for a long time. I didn’t think you would be thinking about marriage until thirty, much less kids.”

“Kid,” Kurt corrects. “We have one kid with no plans for multiples. One child at a time, Blaine.” Blaine looks up at him through long eyelashes and grins before sticking his tongue out and turning his attention back to Eliza. “I’m happy,” Kurt says again. “Maybe this wasn’t always what I pictured for myself at this point in my life, but I’m not unhappy. I learned a long time ago that you can’t always plan your life. Sometimes you just have to live it. I think I’m better off that way, you know? Less expectations means I can appreciate what I have.”

“Which is a dashing husband and the best-dressed one-year-old this side of the Hudson River,” Blaine says in a sing-song voice, hands making a grab for Eliza. He tugs her into his arms and tickles her stomach, grin growing wider at her protesting giggles.

Eliza finally quiets enough to concentrate, and she lifts her head to look up at Blaine, plush animal in hand. “Roo!”

“Yes, sweetheart, that’s a kangaroo,” Blaine says approvingly, tapping her nose.

“I have a family,” Kurt says fondly. “I’ve always wanted that. I haven’t always been sure I’d have it.” Blaine looks over at him knowingly, eyes warm and sympathetic. “It was just me and my dad for a long time. I thought I’d be on my own until I was thirty. I wasn’t counting on glee,” he adds with a laugh. “Or you.”

“What happened to the only cure for loneliness is cake?” Blaine teases.

Kurt flushes a little. “Yeah, well. Cake is better when you have someone to share it with. And cheesecake is preferable.”

“Okay, so not nervous, not unhappy,” Blaine summarizes. “Do you regret getting married so young?”

Kurt arches an eyebrow at him. “Did you just ask me if I regret marrying you?”

“No,” Blaine says plaintively. “I asked if you regretted getting married young. _Listen_ to my words, please, darling.”

Kurt rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t the wrong choice.”

“I’m not saying it was,” Blaine sighs, turning his attention back to Eliza, who is still sitting in Blaine’s lap, babbling to her kangaroo. “I’m just saying the reason we got married at twenty-one was because you were afraid your dad wasn’t going to live to see you get married at all.”

“I’m not denying that,” Kurt says. “But I also didn’t see the point in waiting.” Blaine glances at him, skeptical. “You’re not the only one who’s known what they wanted for a long time.” Blaine smiles at that, small and pleased. “And anyway, it didn’t really matter, did it? My dad’s still around, stubborn old man.”

Blaine laughs. “You know he’d just say the same thing about you, right?”

Kurt narrows his eyes. “I don’t think he’s allowed to call me old until I hit fifty. He’s the one who has a _grandchild_.”

“And we’re so excited to see him this weekend, aren’t we Eliza?” Blaine says, turning his attention back to her. He continues talking to her, nodding through her incoherent babbling. Kurt smiles absently at them before returning his attention back to his sketches, humming under his breath. It’s a comfortable near-silence between the three of them in the office-den. Kurt’s mind isn’t filled with worry about leaving his office for an extra couple of days (Lacey has promised him multiple times that she has things under control and Kurt knows better than not to trust her by now) or a list of what they’ll need to pack (a few extra sets of clothing for all of them, Eliza’s kanagroo in case she gets completely inconsolable at the reunion, the surprise for Blaine he’s had tucked away in his sock drawer for a couple of months). Kurt’s mind is mostly blank at this point, fuzzy and at ease as he drags the pencil across the paper. He purses his lips to blow the extra dust of lead away from the paper when Blaine speaks again. “Kurt?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Kurt, _look_.”

Kurt looks up briefly from his work again before doing a double-take and setting his pencil down slowly. Eliza has removed herself from Blaine’s lap and is standing on her own two feet, eyes trained on the array of toys in front of her. She seems to be deliberating something, one hand holding her kangaroo tightly to her chest, the other resting on her hip, arm bent at the elbow. Blaine’s still sitting on the ground behind her, hovering anxiously. It’s not like Eliza standing on her own is new, but the look on her face is what gives Kurt pause. He can see the way she wavers back and forth, legs unsteady and unsure. “Is she --”

“Shh,” Blaine hisses. “Don’t jinx it.”

Kurt rolls his eyes but doesn’t speak again, dusting off his hands and sliding to his knees on the floor. Together, they watch as Eliza’s eyes drift over her toys one more time before lighting up, spotting her prize: a tiny plastic spatula she likes to use as a drumstick in off-beat accompaniment to Kurt and Blaine’s serenades. She hesitates for the space of a second before barrelling forward, and then that’s it, she’s _walking_ all on her own. Well, it’s more of a waddle, really, which is even more adorable with her [pink oxford top](http://www.ralphlauren.com/product/index.jsp?productId=13091739) and [black and white tulle skirt and leggings](http://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=69651&vid=1&pid=297862012) (the latter of which Blaine proudly claimed to have found inside a Baby Gap, and Kurt hates how much he adores them). But she’s still walking unaided across the carpeted floor, bending over and clutching the shiny blue spatula in hand. She turns in place and holds it up for them before crossing the room again, clearly unaware that what she’s just done is sort of a big deal. Blaine takes the spatula from her with shining eyes and Kurt’s mouth twists in an effort not to let Eliza in on her agency. “Don’t say anything,” Kurt mumbles.

“ _Kurt_ ,” Blaine chastises. “She’s walking. She needs to know how proud we are of her.”

“She’s going to be running around everywhere now,” Kurt groans, resting his head on Blaine’s shoulder. “I’m trying to keep the terror at bay while I still can.”

It’s Blaine turn to roll his eyes. “If she starts walking and running on her own and getting into stuff she’s not supposed to, of course she’s going to turn into a terror. If we support her walking now, we might be able to diffuse that, teach her the difference between right and wrong, that sort of thing. It’s part of being a parent, Kurt.”

Kurt presses a kiss to Eliza’s forehead. “We’re very proud of you, sweetheart,” he says, and Blaine beams at him. Kurt sighs a little dramatically. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

“We’ll up our cardio,” Blaine says soothingly, pressing a kiss to Kurt’s forehead in turn. He slides a hand across the small of Kurt’s back, hand gliding easily against the silk of Kurt’s vest. “It’s going to be fine.”

Eliza worms her way into Blaine’s lap again, curling in close and burying her face against his sweater vest. Blaine brings a hand up to rest against her back, holding her against him, and Kurt can tell there’s a warmth blooming in Blaine’s chest by the way he smiles down at her. Eliza shifts against Blaine’s chest a little, turning her head so she can look at Kurt. She smiles, coy and bashful, before moving her tiny hand to Blaine’s and pushing the spatula towards Kurt. Kurt barks out a laugh. “I guess that’s my cue to start dinner.”

Blaine removes his hand from Kurt’s back and holds it up in defense. “She’s the boss.” Kurt sighs but plucks the spatula from Blaine’s hand and pushes himself into an upright position. He leans in to kiss Blaine, warm and solid, before moving his lips over to blow a raspberry on Eliza’s arm. She giggles and squirms away from him, hiding against Blaine’s chest again. “Does this mean I’m on bath duty tonight?” Blaine asks.

Kurt pushes himself to his feet and looks down at the both of them, smiling a little before shaking his head. “No, we’ll tag team. Last time you were on bath duty, you both ended up with pruney fingers and toes.”

“You’ve been working late,” Blaine argues. “There’s been an epic, ongoing battle between the rubber duck and the motor boat.”

"You’re ridiculous,” Kurt laughs.

“And you’re happy,” Blaine counters, grinning.

Kurt’s fingers flex at the frame of the door as he pauses in the doorway. “Yeah,” he says wistfully, glancing down at the spatula in his hand. “I am.”

*****


End file.
